Fishing
There are several opportunities throughout Ōkami to do fishing. This is required a few times to advance the main plot or optional sidequests, but fishing can also be done as simple recreation and to earn yen by selling the fish to merchants. Amaterasu cannot eat the fish to replenish her Astral Pouch, nor feed it to animals in place of a fish feedbag. Where to fish Amaterasu needs to find a human fisherman to "assist" in catching the fish. If no such partner is available, she cannot go fishing. Agata Forest After reviving the Guardian Sapling here, speak to Kokari to start fishing. There are two different plot-required fish to catch at two different points in the story: the Giant Salmon, for the key to open Tsuta Ruins; after clearing that dungeon, and the Whopper, for the Crescent technique. Except for those two plot fish, all of the fish here can also be caught in other locations. After the moon festival in Kamiki Village, Kokari leaves this area and Amaterasu cannot fish again until Sei'an City. Sei'an City (Aristocratic Quarter) Amaterasu has to fish here to advance the story. After completing the Digging minigame in the Commoner's Quarter, bring the Blinding Snow fishing rod to Benkei on the giant drawbridge to catch the "Living Sword". Benkei later finds a new fishing spot near the city's Mermaid Spring and remains there for the rest of the game. North Ryoshima Coast A local fisherman here (simply named "Fisherman") is located on a long fishing pier on the southwestern island. (If the Water Dragon is still around, Amaterasu may wish to evade it by riding Orca there instead of using Water Lily.) If she brings him the Marlin Rod, he can catch the Giant Marlin to take to Chef Umi's restaurant on the shore, where she can then learn the Whirlwind Secret Brush Technique. From then on, Amaterasu can return to the fisherman's pier to fish for an unlimited time. Kamui Kokari travels here after leaving Agata Forest. After reviving the Guardian Sapling, Amaterasu may find him near the Dojo, where he remains for the rest of the game. How to fish At first, the fisherman just stands there while shadows move in the water. The shadows all have generic fish shapes without indicating any specific "fish" type (such as a nautilus or starfish), but the shadow size does roughly indicate the general caliber of fish. Use the Celestial Brush to draw a path (it need not be straight) from the pole toward the desired shadow until black Holy smoke appears, indicating that the fish is close enough to hook. Once the target fish is hooked, all of the other shadows disappear and two different meters appear on the screen: a stress meter in the upper right corner and a health meter in the lower right. Reel in the fish by pulling the controls in the opposite direction of its movement. If the pull is effective, the fish will throw off "sweat" drops around its shadow. The stress meter shows the current strength of the line pull: blue at the ineffective weakest level, green for a strong healthy pull, and red for maximum overstrain. The health meter indicates the overall condition of the fisherman for this fishing session and starts out green at full strength, but when the stress meter hits red, the health meter starts to decrease down through a yellow warning stage to red near-exhaustion. Generally, once the fish is hooked and "sweating", it can be brought in with a series of light control taps that keep the stress meter in the green range, rather than requiring continuous control pressure that quickly overstrains the fisherman. Larger fish tend to generate more stress than smaller ones. When the fish is close enough to catch, a signal appears on screen: in the PS2 version, a random button (Triangle, Circle, X, or Square) will need to be pushed; in the Wii version, swing the remote upwards. If this is done successfully, the fish will jump out of the water, but still needs to be stunned with Power Slash to pull it ashore. Some larger fish will survive the first slash and plunge back into the water, requiring two or even three individual reel-ins and slashes to catch (regardless of any upgrades to the Power Slash technique). After catching each fish, Amaterasu has the option to end the fishing session or keep going. She can also end the fishing session at any time by pressing the menu button. As each fishing session continues, the available fish get larger; each plot fish usually requires two smaller previous fish to be caught in the same session. The fishing session automatically ends if the fisherman gets pulled into the water (when the health meter completely runs out, or sometimes if the fish is taking too long to reel in), or when the plot fish is caught (when applicable). Where to sell them Almost any merchant (except for the Demon Fang traders) will buy Amaterasu's fish from her, but some types of fish sell for more at Taka Pass. Even more types of fish can be sold at this special higher price to the Tool Dealer in the Commoner's District of Sei'an City. Also note that, with three exceptions, fish caught in Kamui are sold at the same price everywhere. See the chart below for more information. Fish Amaterasu's fish list can be viewed from the scroll section of the main fan menu, although she cannot check it or other menu/inventory information during the middle of a fishing session. The list starts out blank, but gradually fills in with each new fish type that is caught and the number of them in Amaterasu's current inventory. Once caught, each fish type remains on the list even if she sells off all of those fish and no longer have any of that type. The fish list carries over into a New Game+. In addition to the three-tiered size approximations in the chart below, the game also has a four-tiered size system according to the music played when the fish is pulled in. According to the music clip labels in the "Gifts from Issun" jukebox unlocked after the first playthrough, the sizes are (in order from smallest to largest) "Nice!", "Great!", "Fantastic!" and "Awesome!". ** Note: with the exception of the Nautilus (#26), Blowfish (#30), and Marlin (#43), fish caught in Kamui are sold at the same price everywhere. *** Note: Only for the side-quest. Category:Species Category:Fish Category:Side Quests